Supportive Physiotherapy for Palliative Care at Home

Palliative care focuses on enhancing quality of life, managing symptoms, and providing comfort and dignity for individuals living with life-limiting illnesses. Physiotherapy within palliative care adopts this philosophy, offering gentle, supportive interventions aimed at maximising well-being. Medella Home Physio & OT provides specialist palliative physiotherapy services delivered with compassion and sensitivity in the comfort of your own home or usual place of residence across Hampshire and Dorset.

Enhancing Comfort and Quality of Life Through Palliative Physiotherapy

Our goal in palliative physiotherapy is not cure or intensive rehabilitation, but rather to help you live as well and as comfortably as possible. We focus on managing challenging symptoms, maintaining functional abilities that are important to you, preventing complications, and providing holistic support for both you and your family during a difficult time.

Our Compassionate and Sensitive Approach

We understand that palliative care requires a deeply person-centred and empathetic approach. Our experienced physiotherapists prioritise:

Respecting Your Wishes: All goals and interventions are guided entirely by your priorities, preferences, and energy levels on any given day.
Gentle Assessment: Tailoring assessments to be minimally intrusive and focused on comfort.
Flexibility: Adapting sessions readily based on how you are feeling.
Clear Communication: Explaining things simply and listening carefully to you and your family.
Collaboration: Working closely with your GP, district nurses, hospice team, specialist nurses, and other members of your palliative care team to ensure coordinated support.
Dignity: Upholding your dignity and autonomy in all interactions.

Supporting Families and Caregivers

We recognise the vital role of family and caregivers. Our physiotherapists can offer support by:

Providing guidance on safe techniques for assisting with movement and transfers.
Teaching positioning strategies for comfort and pressure care.
Offering practical advice to help manage challenging physical symptoms.
Providing a listening ear and emotional support.

Experienced Physiotherapists in Palliative Support

Providing effective palliative physiotherapy requires specific skills and a compassionate nature. Our team consists of senior physiotherapists (minimum five years’ experience, most over ten) with expertise in managing complex symptoms and a deep understanding of the emotional and physical needs within palliative care.

The Role of Physiotherapy in Palliative Care at Home

Receiving care at home allows individuals to remain in familiar, comforting surroundings. Our physiotherapists work as part of your support network, bringing specialised skills directly to you. The role of physiotherapy in palliative care can include:

Symptom Management: Helping to manage symptoms like pain, breathlessness, fatigue, and muscle stiffness through positioning, gentle movement, relaxation techniques, and other strategies.
Maintaining Independence: Supporting safe mobility and function for activities that matter to you, for as long as possible (e.g., transferring safely, walking short distances if desired).
Promoting Comfort: Advising on comfortable positioning in bed or chairs, and techniques to prevent pressure sores or joint stiffness (contractures).
Providing Equipment Advice: Recommending appropriate mobility aids or equipment to assist with function and comfort.
Emotional Support: Providing a supportive presence, listening, and helping to maintain a sense of control and well-being through physical means.

How Home-Based Physiotherapy Can Help

Specific ways our physiotherapists can assist during palliative care at home include:

Breathlessness Management: Teaching breathing techniques, positions of ease, and relaxation strategies.
Pain Relief: Using gentle movement, positioning, advice on heat/cold, or TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) where appropriate, alongside your prescribed pain relief.
Fatigue Management: Advising on energy conservation techniques and pacing activities.
Maintaining Movement: Gentle exercises to maintain joint range, prevent stiffness, and support circulation.
Mobility Support: Assisting with safe transfers and walking (if appropriate and desired), advising on walking aids.
Positioning: Guidance for comfortable and supportive positioning in bed or chairs to relieve pressure and aid breathing.

Serving Hampshire and Dorset with Dignity

Medella Home Physio & OT provides supportive palliative physiotherapy services to individuals in their own homes, care homes, or potentially hospice settings throughout Hampshire and Dorset.

Discuss Palliative Physiotherapy Support

If you, a loved one, or a patient under your care could benefit from gentle, supportive physiotherapy as part of a palliative care plan, please contact us. We offer sensitive discussions to explore how our home-visiting service can contribute positively to comfort and quality of life.